The author of The Prague Cemetery, Baudolino, and On Literature, Umberto Eco made his literary mark in 1980 with this superb book, set in 1327. Franciscan monks in a wealthy Italian abbey are suspected of heresy, and Brother William of Baskerville arrives to inquire. When his delicate mission is suddenly overshadowed by seven bizarre deaths, however, Brother William turns sleuth, collecting evidence, deciphering symbols and coded manuscripts, and digging into the eerie labyrinth of the abbey. The Name of the Rose is at once a crime novel and a portrait of the late Middle Ages on the eve of the Renaissance.